Pages

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Bike Wars

The mayor of Seattle, who believes that it is his right and duty to tell the citizenry what to do instead of the other way 'round, hopes to "de-escalate" the war between motor cars and cyclists.

Given his honour's policies, it seems that his idea of de-escalation is to demand that motorists agree to unconditional surrender. Even the Leftist Seattle Times (what's left of it since the print edition went south) calls it "a recipe for disaster". Actually, it's more prescription for economic suicide as families and businesses flee the city. But what can you expect from a city where the mayor dreams of building 118 miles of bike trails and making the metropolis "carbon neutral" but can't be bothered fix the potholes?

2 comments:

Seattle's mayor sounds like a mini-Ray LaHood. That's Obama's SecTrans, whose dream of "ideal transportation architecture" consists of high-speed rail plus bike paths, with nothing in-between. Not only aren't potholes being fixed, the entire interstate highway system is not being maintained.

A visceral hatred of the internal-combustion engine has been de rigueur for the "progressives" since AlGore wrote "Earth in the Balance", but today it has reached the level of a full-blown psychosis.

I assume that all of the above expect that the fixings for their frappucinos will be hauled from the HSR train station to Starbuck's in baskets slung either side of bike frames, pushed by "responsible citizens" doing an impression of VC porters on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Complete with coolie hats, I'm sure.

Here in "unenlightened" Central OH, we have little trouble mixing bicycles and autos on the street. Accidents are rare, in spite of the bicyclists' steadfast belief that traffic laws only apply to ICE-powered vehicles, and not to them.

Yes, us "automobilists" are good at crash stops when some idiot sails through the intersection against the light while chatting on a cellphone and being impressed with what a "Friend of Holy Mother Gaia" he is.

The mayor of Burlington, VT, Bob Kiss, is currently being run out of town on a rail. His crime? Too conservative! This guy has always been further to the Left than, well, the former mayor of Burlington, Bernie Sanders.

But he made a mistake and thought that thousands of high-paying tech jobs would be good for the Queen City. He set his personal politics aside and worked with Senator Pat Leahy (also not a conservative) to get Lockheed-Martin to look into opening a factory and design office on the outskirts of town. Well, the town went nuts because, you know, military-industrial complex. Icky.

Kiss is up for reelection in November and it looks like he's going to take the coward's way out and not run. The rest of the field runs the gamut from "hard left" to "bugscat insane, crystal-fondling Marxist."